One interesting outcome of a world where many of us have access to tools to write, draw, and make music that's "better" (let's unpack that word later) than what we could have done ourselves is that it's forcing people to consider explicitly the value of personal connection versus professional capability, and I think that is bad for professional artists long-term, but possibly good for wider society. What do I mean by this?

1. Let's come back to that word "better". For ~$30 you can fine-tune an LLM to ghost-write a professional author so well that both lay readers and other professional authors think the LLM's output is both better and more authentic to the author's style than the author's own works. Routinely now, Spotify is padding out playlists with AI-generated music, and it's good enough to fit in undetected (in many cases) among the recordings made by professionals in a mature industry. So in terms of the quality of presentation, the best generative AI models are at the top of the craft, across multiple media.
2. Recorded-media works are all examples of "superstar economies". The top bands, TV & movie actors, authors are taking most of the interest and money, because scaling your audience gives you more resources to make your "quality of presentation" better (you get better producers and editors, better distribution in better venues, more reach). This trend has been going on for a while, and digitization reducing the scaling costs almost to zero has hugely increased it.
3. What about the value of personal connection? Live music at all levels, from pub gigs to stadium tours, has bounced back from the pandemic. People are going to see shitty bands in tiny venues with awful sound systems. People are spending more time watching YT videos with 100 views than blockbuster movies. Why? Because your niche, local artwork (in whatever form) is more "authentic" or "speaks to you" more than a superstar.
4. The "cozy web" is also a big part of this: a rejection of the "hustle to get noticed" culture of professional creativity in favour of the online equivalent of putting your drawing in the staff break room or playing piano when your friends come over.
5. On the other hand, this week's hot meme of “Please read our holiday card; we got a hungry ghost to write it this year” seems laughable because we would a priori expect an LLM-generated greeting to be no more personal, meaningful, or authentic than the one that came printed in the card. Whether it was LLM-generated or written by a contractor for Hallmark, that greeting would probably be well-written, but the quality of presentation isn't what matters here.
6. There's a big contrast here: it's becoming really easy to get superstar-quality artefacts, yet people are sharing their shitty artefacts in friend groups and niche interest groups.
7. For years, arts funding campaigners' answer to "why pay artists to do what people enjoy doing?" has been "If you want pro-quality art, you need full-time pro artists." But what if people decide that pro-quality art isn't actually what they want? What if being presented with infinite pro-quality art coming out of the sausage machine makes people realise they want amateur art made by their friends?

This last "what if" is why I say it could be bad for pro artists. But if the result is that people are more inspired to make crappy amateur art for their friends to enjoy more, and the art & entertainment industries get less globalised and less superstar-focused, maybe the prize is happier people and better communities.

"CVS Caremark. You can't get 90 day supplies unless you get them at a CVS pharmacy.

Me. And that's a limitation of my plan?

CVS Caremark. Yes.

Me. Then can I change my plan to one that allows me to do so?

CVS Caremark. No."

If you're from a country that has any kind of universal health care and eve think, "Man this would be so much better if we had a setup like the US does." I assure you, you do not.

I've had people argue with me that they thought the US system was better because we get "choice". We do not.

For the majority of us our insurance is dictated by our work. And subsidized by it. This means you take what they offer or you don't have insurance.

Only the people wealthy enough to afford their insurance outright have any choice in it at all. This can be several thousands of dollars a month depending on needs. This is why the vast majority of people here can't afford to just buy whatever insurance they want.

In short, any idea of "choice" is essentially a lie, Trust me, you're better off working to make your universal system better than doing anything remotely like the shit show we have here.

Shiny drone in techwear for #SqueakySaturday 🖤

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